Mentally Sponged

Still trying to settle into a rhythm now that I'm back at work. My to do list keeps on filling up, then emptying, then filling up faster. We're walking into quite a busy period now which is a wake up call for most of us, I just left work feeling mentally a bit expelled. Best cure for that? Play a puzzle game that is still continuous unfolding at every turn. I said I'd only play it for an hour, next thing I know it's past my bedtime and I feel like my brain has done enough now til 2027.

Catching a Flight?

Had that kind of sleep you reserve for catching a super early flight. I slept little and lightly, lying in fear of sleeping through my alarm, then inexplicably awoke 30 minutes before I had to hit snooze. The work day felt much the same to everyone, out work muscles atrophied over the break so we were all sluggish even after multiple coffees. I only just got the knack of things, and then it was hometime. Just 4 more days til the weekend.

See Ya Christmas

And so, my final day of the holidays was spent doing very little. I got up a little early to play games under the light of the Christmas tree. Just a few hours later we were morosely removed it's decorations before bundling it up in a painting sheet to take it outside. If any curious neighbours looked outside it would have looked like Rebecca and I were turfing a dead body, alas the only thing that died in our household was the Christmas Spirit. Til next December I suppose.

I told myself I'd get to this point in the evening and gone through the stages of grief before heading back to work. Still somewhere in the grieving stage though. It'll come and it'll go for sure but I guess we'll find out what's been cooking for us over the holidays. Nasty surprises or flowers and roses?

Off to the Mini Horse Races

Ventured out with Louis, Rachel and Rebecca to do an afternoon pub quiz just up the road from us. The format was styled in horseracing, you could even put bets on an overall winner, but I ain't the gambling type. If you won a round though you got an intentionally naff prize and we got one of these featuring two scratch cards, again I ain't the gambling type but free scratch cards are fun... If you win that is. 

Much like the rest of the world right now, I'm low-key dreading returning to work on Monday. Seemed like only yesterday I was wrapping Christmas presents and getting ready for all that, now tomorrow we're discussing the best way to put our tree down. Reality bites huh. 

1 Amazon, 2 Amazon...

 One last push of life admin before heading back to work. Took the car to get a new battery installed and took all my Amazon parcels that needed returning to the post office. The latter ended up taking ages after the team there told me that although I was instructed to bundle items into boxes, I would have to individually packed each item. The chaps there helped out thankfully, but when it came to scanning them in the computer was asking why the hell did we do everything one by one? We all just smiled and walked away, Amazon will sort it. Ain't that the mantra of the decade.

Back home I managed to squeeze in a bit of me time. I'm knee-deep into Blue Prince at the moment which is slowly consuming my every thought. I did some more lines of my crochet project and honoured my 'watch a slightly naff film' as my first movie of the year. Anyone But You microwaved the spirit of a 2000's rom com til it was piping hot and easy to chew. Nothing new, nothing fancy, but it was just what the doctor ordered today. 

Handful of Games 2025

Despite drinking a fair deal of beer, wine, champagne, espresso martinis and associated tiramisu goodness, I rose feeling fresher than expected. The headache rolled in like an unwanted storm cloud latterly but that didn't stop us from having a pleasant New Year's breakfast with our hosts. We left theirs a little after midday ready to hop back into the trusty car (now all fixed after its Christmas hissy fit) and drive back home to Bristol. I got in, turned the keys and heard a pathetic sputtering sound.

The battery was dead... Luckily Green Flag jumped us and we were on our merry way, but it's just another hiccup we ideally could have done without. We're back at home now thankfully, ready for a few days to ourselves before heading back to the world of work.

As is also customary, I wrote up my picks of best games I played in 2025. There's some atypical choices this year, mostly because I played some really good stuff that was just off the obvious path. 

Happy New Year 2026!

Woke up in Bristol, ended up in London for one of the best, low-key New Years I've had in recent memory. A Raclette grill was produced for us to cook our own dinner together, I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the new year than steak and melted cheese. The beer, wine, champagne and espresso martinis flowed throughout the night, giving us a booze blanket to head out and face the outside as midnight approached. We did a recce earlier and found a good spot that gave us line of sight with the London Eye, but as we walked up with 10 minutes to go we spotted a gaggle of people all heading in the same direction - naturally we followed and ended up on a green with an even better view of the incoming fireworks. We poured champagne in plastic flutes as I checked the time to start the countdown - in a group of near 100 people I was expecting to be the official timekeeper and start the group on the countdown.

2025 was a year I walked into with lofty intentions but ended up zoning out for almost entirely. In a way I was fortunate in being able to work for every single day of the year, but that was also my curse - it  consumed every waking moment, giving me little space to pursue other interests of mine. Career wise I reckon I did inch the needle forward. I finished up my position as Assistant Script Supervisor and rejoined the Production team as Secretary. I found myself onboarding more responsibilities than ever before and ended up kinda liking it for once. 

I also watched more films, read more books and played more games than any year in recent memory, but that made me feel oddly empty. For a few months now I''ve grown conscious that I'm treating media like popcorn. I loathe the word 'content' to describe media but that's gradually become the way I viewed it. People commit years of their lives producing films which I watch in under two hours, shortly after I'm already thinking about what to watch next. Is that normal? In fairness I did try to keep the thought of a film alive within me, I reviewed nearly every film I watched on LetterBoxd but I still feel like I'm blowing through things without letting them truly sit in my mind.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on myself though. For the first time ever I wrote down some of what are effectively my New Years Resolutions, at the bottom of the list I put 'above all else, be kind to yourself'. A code we can all afford to live by.

My favourite thing of 2025? Easy: making my short film No Show. It's long been an idea taking up space in my brain so it was good to finally put my it out into I the world.

Next year I have medium sized plans and hopes of a more fulfilling year. I can't wait around, hoping for it to happen though, I have to go out and get it.

I hope everyone else has a great new year. roll in 2026!